Top and Bottom of the NFL: Week 16

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ORCHARD PARK, NY - DECEMBER 26: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots runs against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on December 26, 2010 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Updated at 8:15 AM PDT on Tuesday, Dec 28, 2010

Power rankings. You hate them. They’re so arbitrary and pointless, especially when they include all 32 NFL teams. All you want to know after a good week of NFL action is who the bestest team in the NFL right now, and which one is the absolute worst. The one so awful, Andrew Luck would be willing to spend another year surrounded by nerdy Stanford nerds specifically to avoid being drafted by that particular team. That’s why we have TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE NFL, where we go to great lengths to tell you who’s the top dog in football right now, this very minute. LET’S GO!

THE TOP: New England PatriotsThank God Atlanta lost last night. Now we don’t have to pretend they merit consideration alongside New England, because right now New England is obliterating everything in its path.

Keep in mind that the Patriots have an abundance of draft picks coming to them this spring (thanks, Vikings!), so if they win the Super Bowl this year, they’ll be extremely well-positioned to win another one next season, and perhaps beyond that. We could see Tom Brady retire with five or six rings. And if he does that, if he manages to win more Super Bowls than any QB who has ever lived, isn’t he officially the best quarterback to ever play?

You couldn’t possibly say Peyton Manning is better if Brady goes on to win three or four times as many titles. And if he beats out Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw’s four Super Bowl rings, I think you have to call him the greatest ever. I think anyone who says otherwise is just going out of their way to try and diminish it. Much as I dislike the Patriots, Brady may be on the verge of dominating the position like no one else ever has, and that’s something to behold.

THE BOTTOM: Minnesota Vikings They’re starting Joe Webb tonight for the second straight game, which means another three hours of pain for Vikings fans. I think we all knew karma would come back to bite Minnesota in the butt. But man, I had no idea karma was THIS ruthless.

Bill Simmons asked if any team has endured a late January to December fall quite like this Minnesota team, and I’m hard-pressed to think of another. Just a horrible, rotten, awful season. And the worst part is that the rebuilding part hasn’t even started yet.